FAMILISM

Familism refers to core values
of a family type which emphasizes commitment to the family as a unit. Staying together for
the sake of the children would be an indication of this familism value. Familism refers to
a model of social organization, based on the
prevalence of the family group and its well-being placed against the interests and
necessities of each one of its members. Familism is part of a traditional view of society that
highlights loyalty, trust, and cooperative attitudes within the family group. Familism is
found in the bourgeois class family and reflects the
cultural belief that it is the family that is the foundation of society
and the source of human identification and moral discipline.

The modern conjugal family, is typically described as
having a central value of individualism than familism,
that de-emphasizes the importance of the family unit. Familism is a cluster of attitudes
that emphasizes the relevance of the family for personal and social life, the development
of a feeling of duty among the members of the family group, and the belief
that to have children is a requirement for personal and social realization.

In familism three main orientations can be distinguished:

Familism as a classical social position;

Familism as a sociopolitical formulation; and

Familism as a psychological re-elaboration.

The main antecedents of these orientations are,
respectively, the disappearance of the Old Regime, the changes that have taken place
around World War II, and the development of a culture of service characteristic of the
postindustrial societies.

Familism as a form of system justification: A cross-cultural analysis of the USA and Italy
Pacilli, Maria Giuseppina. and Jost, John.
Abstract: The present study investigated the relations among familism, system
justification, and family justification, that is, between familism and the rationalization
of the large-scale social system and of the family as a small-scale social system.
Familism is a cultural value that describes a strong attachment and loyalty to ones
family; it has been shown to include two main types of value orientations: (a) perceptions
of relatives as behavioral referents (family norms), and (b)
reliance on relatives for emotional help (family support). Familism as the justification
of family norms fits Jost and Banajis (1994) definition of system justification
insofar as familistic rules apply not only to the family as a system but also to the
family as an institution that is linked to the broader society. In a familistic culture,
the norms and traditions of the family are transmitted to the younger generation: this can
happen only if people perceive these norms to be fair and legitimate. We hypothesized that
the stronger the familism, the greater the tendency to endorse system justification. Two
hundred and forty-three students (129 American and 114 Italian) completed a system
justification scale, a family justification scale, and a familism scale. As hypothesized,
American participants with high system justification scores perceived family norms to be
especially strong, but no relationship emerged with respect to the perceived importance of
family support. A different pattern emerged in the Italian context, where a stronger
perception of family norms was related to a greater tendency to engage in family
justification.

A New Familism Scale for Use with Latino Populations
Angel G. Lugo Steidel, Josefina M. Contreras, Kent State University
The goal of this study was to develop an attitudinal familism scale that can be used with
relatively less acculturated Latinos and that assesses all relevant aspects of the
construct. An 18-item scale composed of original items and adapted items from previous
scales was tested on a sample of 124 Latino adults. An exploratory factor analysis
revealed the following four factors, accounting for 51.23% of the total variance: Familial
Support, Familial Interconnectedness, Familial Honor, and Subjugation of Self for Family.
Cronbachs alpha for the scale was found to be .83. Validity
analyses revealed significant negative correlations between some aspects of familism and
acculturation scores and indicators of exposure to the U.S. culture, confirming previous
findings on the subject.
In his 1958 book The Moral Basis of a Backward Society, Edward Banfield used the term
Amoral Familism to describe what he saw as the tendency of poor rural Italians to concern
themselves only with the condition of their own family members to the exclusion of
outsiders.

Managers Dilemma: Institutions, Familism, and Trust in Chinas Private
Businesses - Ma, Li.
Abstract: The classical principal-agent problem finds more complications in private
businesses in transitional China. Incremental processes of deinstitutionalization, partial privatization,
delayed legitimization of private property right, and informal consent allowing private
wealth accumulationresulted in a high level of uncertainty for private businesses.
Relaxation of ideological taboo against wealth accumulation
stirred up enormous private initiatives and reinvigorated the Chinese entrepreneurial
spirit. However, policy ambiguity put them in an embarrassing positionmarket
activities are encouraged but private property rights are not legitimized. They still face
overt discriminatory policies in terms of accessing financial capital in an economy where
financial institutions are strictly regulated by the state. Most private businesses
started up by pooling resources through kinship networks. Familism gains stronger hold in
the normative system in the private sector. In these relatively closed systems, managers
and owners undergo psychological processes similar to players in a prisoners dilemma
game. With both intra-organizational and inter-organizational uncertainty, a vicious cycle
of distrust come into being. This phenomenon, as I termed as managers
dilemma, the dilemma between choices of trust or distrust, is particular to an
economy where strong institutional inertia, organizational memory and familism values
interplay and contradict with each other.

Measuring Amoral Familism: A Tentative Approach - Stefano Morandini
Abstract: This paper focuses on amoral familism in public institutions and suggests a way
to measure it. Amoral familism may be discussed in terms of its association with public
sector corruption or of misallocation of human capital. Here I describe a tentative
methodological approach to estimate familism that I call amoral familism rate. However,
the measurement of familism involves several uncertainties concerning the data collection
and how to obtain useful indications about the efficiency and the integrity of the public
sphere.

Workplace Familism and Psychological Contract Breach in the Philippines
Restubog, Simon Lloyd D.; Bordia, Prashant
Source: Applied Psychology An International Review, Volume 55, Number 4, October 2006
Abstract: The present study addresses the call for theory-based investigations on
workplace familism. It contributes to the literature by proposing and testing the
moderating role of workplace familism between psychological contract breach and civic
virtue behaviour. We surveyed 267 full-time employees and found main effects of both types
of workplace familism (i.e. workplace organisational and workplace supervisor familism)
and breach of relational obligations on civic virtue behaviour. Workplace supervisor
familism also moderated the relationship between breach and civic virtue behaviour, with
the negative relationship between breach and civic virtue behavior
stronger when workplace supervisor familism was high. This suggests that employees with a
high level of workplace supervisor familism may feel a sense of betrayal and, therefore,
respond more negatively to contract breach. Implications for practice and directions for
future research are discussed.

The role of attitudinal familism in academic outcomes: a study of urban, Latino
high school seniors. Esparza, Patricia, Sanchez, Bernadette
Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the role of attitudinal familism on Latino
high school students' academic grades, effort, motivation, and truancy. Results in this
study reveal that having high attitudinal familism predicts fewer classes missed and
greater academic effort. Also, when mothers' educational level is low, attitudinal
familism is positively associated to students' academic grades.

Hispanic college students' adjustment: The influence of familism, acculturation, and social support - Regina Jean-Van
Hell, Boston College
Abstract: Hispanic college students' value of familism, acculturation, and social support
were examined in relation to these students' adjustment to college. Ninety-one Hispanic
college students completed a questionnaire that included demographics, two scales of
familism (Valenzuela and Dornbusch questionnaire) and the Bardis Familism Scale (BFS),
the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale (BAS), the Social Provisions Scale (SPS), and the
College Adjustment Scale (CAS). The analyses of the data revealed that familism attitudes
of Hispanic college students were not related to their college adjustment, which was
contrary to the expectations of previous research. Levels of familism were not related to
acculturation to the Anglo culture or to the Hispanic culture. Consequently, it was not
demonstrated whether familism remains constant or changes as individuals become more
acculturated to the Anglo culture. This study found that familism in Hispanic college
students is not related to social support, as it was expected since the value of familism
implies social support. Thus, questions are raised regarding familism and social support
among different generations because familism incorporates respect for elders and obedience
to parents. Relationships among familism, income, and education were investigated. The
findings revealed slight relationships between familism, income and education. Income and
father's and mother's education were moderately correlated; father's and mother's
education were also moderately correlated. Gender differences in familism were not found.

Acculturation, familism, and alcohol use among Latino adolescent males:
Longitudinal relations - Andres G. Gil, Eric F. Wagner, William A. Vega
Abstract: This article advances our understanding of factors associated with patterns and
consequences of early alcohol involvement among Latino teens, with an emphasis on how
nativity may influence longitudinal relations among variables
including acculturation, familism, and alcohol involvement. Following a comparative
presentation of alcohol use prevalence rates, the current study offers a culturally
founded theoretical model of early adolescent drinking. Results from structural equation
modeling suggest acculturation and acculturative stress influence alcohol use primarily
through the deterioration of Latino family values, attitudes, and familistic behavior. However, the relationship between acculturative stress
and alcohol use differs in important ways depending on the adolescent's birthplace.